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Author: concrete
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The future of competition in UT2k4 is a hot topic of speculation right now. Each major gametype (1v1, tdm, ons, ctf) is essentially re-evaluating itself to determine where it will go in the future. With the coming of fall, the first LAN season of ut2k4 is over (with pretty decent success), and eyes have turned to trying to predict what will come of the game in the future. I'm simply going to break down what my theories are here.
Onslaught
I am not an ONS player, nor have I ever been, and there is not much chance that I ever will be. Aside from the occasional time-killing foray and a couple pick up games, I simply have not spent much time with it. Therefore I can't and won't claim to have much knowledge of the inside of the ONS community. Thus, I will simply give a disclaimer here that my views are from a sort of overhead perspective, although it also means that I have absolutely no bias for or against onslaught.
Within the first few weeks of UT2k4's release, there was two to three times as many teams on ONS ladders as TDM or CTF. While that doesn't necessarily gauge the activity, it does show that many people expected it to launch into a large competitive scene. The decision on CPL's part to favor TDM over ONS at the latest Summer event seems to have been both a cause and effect affair. The causes of the decision may have been controversial, but one of the most likely claims is that TDM has more international appeal. In the past weeks, the number of ONS teams on ladders has been steadily dwindling, and as of right now the TDM ladder on TWL actually has 4 more teams than the ONS ladder.
Some might say competition "died" because of CPL's decision; I would tend to disagree, and rather propose that while changing the gametype did discourage some from playing onslaught, the dropping number of teams is more a matter of cutting the dead wood than competition being "killed". It has always been my opinion that competition in online games should not rely on LAN tourneys to live. If enough people take a game seriously, competitions will certainly come, one way or another. On the other hand, if everyone lets the companies decide what gets played, nobody will be able to stick to a game for more than 6 months or so, until newer games push newer hardware and the sponsorship money follows.
For right now, the future of onslaught competitively can only be considered critical. Finishing the TWL and XTGL seasons strong would definately be a step in the right direction, showing that there is a core of dedicated and active teams that won't be disappearing in a week. If the community can develop further, and a moderate sized competition or two can work itself out, there just may be hope. But for now, those looking to choose a gametype for competition over fun-factor will often overlook onslaught.
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